Marion County Commissioner amplifies J6’er propaganda
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Marion County Commissioner amplifies J6’er propaganda
Right-wing extremists target charter school over perceived Bill of Rights slight
It’s no secret that there’s a vortex of disinformation pumping one dumbass idea after another into the Oregon marketplace of ideas.
You just don’t expect elected officials to participate so brazenly in amping up the crazy. Or, in Marion County, maybe we should?
Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell chose to amplify an absolutely-fucking-ridiculous grievance created by insurrection enthusiast; January 6th alumni; AND part of the Gravy Seals crew who tried to storm the Oregon Capitol building and ended up attacking state police - David Medina - captured here, in video, doing just normal dude stuff. Storming the U.S. Capitol. Sightseeing. Whatever.
Medina runs I guess what you would call a media company? That’s what he calls it, anyway. (I’m not going to link to it because I don’t want any links from my site pointing to his. Google him - you’ll find it.)
Anyway, part of the media propaganda he produces comes from soliciting news tips and then seemingly shoehorning those tips into the closest, relevant culture war grievance.
The Oregon Republican Party posted one of Medina’s articles to their Facebook page sometime on April 20, 2023.
Republican State Representative Ed Diehl and Marion County Commissioner Bethell both commented - Bethell tagging another GOP rep - Boomer Wright - who represents the area where the virtual charter school is based.
Geez, with all of these important public figures (that clearly have tons of important issues to deal with) obsessing about this article…it’s gotta be something huge, right?
Hold onto your friggin’ hats, guys. It’s a doozy.
This virtual charter school was using a 2nd grade curriculum that…hold on…we’re going to get pretty graphic here…that described the 1st Amendment as “being free to say and write what we want as long as it does not hurt anyone.”
There’s been no word yet on the number of children impacted by what Medina deftly labels this “slightly different definition,” but it’s clear the Oregon Republican Party is preparing for the worst:
Obviously, this isn’t a big deal. For a bunch of reasons.
First, it’s not wrong.
Second, these kids are, like, 7 years old. I’m not sure one sentence in a social studies curriculum is going to seed their inevitable Marxist turn.
And third, the “offending” text is being shown completely out of context. Usually, with right-wing folks, that means they are trying to shape the narrative by limiting the amount of information revealed - just enough to enrage, not enough to blow the grift.
But what’s super frustrating is the public officials playing along with a two-time insurrectionist goon like Medina.
This is abject culture war nonsense and to see Bethell, also a former Salem-Keizer School Board Director, participate in amplifying it really makes you wonder if she’s fit to hold such an important, future-shaping role in Marion County, as Commissioner.
Or maybe, just maybe…Medina has changed his anti-democracy ways? And maybe it’s OK for county officials like Bethell to publicly promote his ranting?
Or…maybe he’s still on Twitter posting disinformation about how the January 6 insurrection HE PARTICIPATED IN was really a “psyop.”
I don’t know about you, but it feels like we can do better in choosing our public officials. At the very least, choose folks who don’t spread insane propaganda (but maybe that’s too low a bar?)
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